Inside
by VAfanfiction
Summary: A story of two brothers torn from each other at a young age. Now on the opposite sides of the law, brothers Dimitri and Adrian are put against each other, unaware of their fraternity.
1. Chapter 1

**So here is a small excerpt on the new story I have started. I can't even call this a chapter, because that's how small it is. The scene I wrote is short and will make you all think one way, which will be completely different from what is going to end up happening in the story.**

 **I always try to create stories that are completely unlike ones you have already read. Though this story will have romance, it will be mostly centered around drama, suspense, and familial ties.**

 **I am writing the story mostly for myself so there will be times it'll be confusing, but that confusion will be cleared up eventually.I am not going to update this story until I get more chapters of "Her Guardian" and "She-Wolf" out, but if you thought those two stories were an emotional rollercoaster, you haven't seen anything yet lol**

 **Everything in italics is a flashback! Anyway, I had this short excerpt saved for the longest time and thought I might as well put it out. So here it is, enjoy :)**

 **(Sidenote:** ** _With Netflix looking for a new book series to adapt, this is a perfect time to trend #PickUpVampireAcademy and you also need to tag Netflix and NetflixLife. How: Tweet #PickUpVampireAcademy at 1:30 pm EST as much as you can. Don't forget to tag netflix and netflixlifee. Time: December 1st, 01:30 PM EST)_**

 **Disclaimer- All characters belong to Richelle Mead.**

 ** _Dimitri POV_**

I splashed another handful of cold water on my face, trying to stall for some more time. I had been in this bathroom for 40 minutes now, about as long as the ceremony was going on just outside.

The commencement speaker's booming voice could clearly be heard through the bathroom walls, congratulating the new group of students for graduating the police academy.

I was one of those students. I had completed four grueling years, remaining the top student all through out. It had been my dream to be apart of the organized crime unit, but that had all been taken away from me last week.

 _I was called into the office of the head of the department, Hans Croft. To say I was nervous was putting it lightly._

 _All throughout my schooling, I dreamt of graduating and joining Croft's team as one of the leading officers. I had been the top student, so I was hoping this unexpected call to his office would be good news for the future.  
I had been wrong._

 _"Come in," Han's strong German accent spoke after I knocked on his office door._

 _I made my way over to his desk and remained standing._

 _"You wanted to see me, Sir."_

 _"Yes, please take a seat," he said. He had a file in his hands that he seemed to have most of his attention. "Are you nervous?"_

 _"A little," I told him truthfully._

 _"Why? What do you think this meeting is going to be about?"_

 _I shrugged and rubbed my sweaty palms on the front of my jeans. "No idea, Sir."_

 _"I think you do," he said, smiling a little. "You're just being humble."_

 _Hans put the file down on his desk and leaned forward, looking more intimidating than before._

 _"You're the top of your class and the chief of the Organized Crime unit, aka me, just called you into his office. If I were you, I'd be happy I'm guaranteed the job of my dreams."_

 _"That's what I'm hoping for, Sir."_

 _Hans nodded and sat down in his chair._

 _"Let's play a game, Dimitri Belikov. I'm going to tell you about a person and you're going to guess who it is."_

 _I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but nodded anyway. Hans picked up the file he had been reading earlier, once again.  
He flipped it open and began reading off of whatever was written inside._

 _"11 murders, 22 incidences of assault with a deadly weapon, a member of the most deadly crime syndicate that I have ever encountered," Hans paused to look at me, though he already had all of my attention. "I'm talking about the right hand man of mafia leader, Ibrahim Mazur."_

 _Before I had the chance to react, Hans threw the file that had been in his hand, towards me on the desk. Staring back at me was a picture of middle-aged man I hoped to forget but never would. The familiar green eyes, ones I hadn't seen since I was 6 years old were unmistakable._

 _I closed my eyes for a brief moment, realizing this meeting was going to end up being the complete opposite of what I had been hoping for._

 _"My father," I muttered. I opened my eyes and looked at Han's. "That's my father, Randall Ivashkov."_

 _Hans nodded as if he had been waiting for the paternal confirmation._

 _"I have nothing to do with him or his dirty work. He doesn't exist for me," I told Hans truthfully. The last time I had seen my father had been during the first few months of his imprisonment, 20 years ago._

 _"Really?" Hans asked and I nodded my head._

 _He picked up another, even thicker file by the edge of his desk. After opening up to the first page, he threw it on top of the other file for me to see._

 _"Do you know him?" he asked, referring to the picture of the man._

 _The man in this picture was tall, tan, with a brightly colored tailored suit and expensive cashmere sweater hanging from his shoulders. He had a goatee and gold, hoop earrings, making him look a lot like a mobster pirate._

 _"Ibrahim Mazur," I answered. Han's stood from his chair once again and began to walk back and forth, keeping me on edge._

 _"The infamous Ibrahim Mazur, or as people like to call him, Abe The Butcher. The man Mafioso for whom your father was a hetman." Han's walked around his desk and stood directly in front of me._

 _"Your father was very loyal to Abe. When he went to prison, he didn't speak a word on him. Your father didn't give the authorities Abe's name, even though it cost him life imprisonment. Will you do the same?"_

 _My head snapped up so quickly, I'm surprised I didn't break my neck._

 _This is why I had been called in here. It wasn't for a job well done or a potential job offer. No, it was to see where my loyalties lied; with Mazur or with the Organized Crime Unit._

 _"When you become a cop, are you going to play both sides, offering up your loyalty to Abe just like your father did."_

 _"Absolutely not," I said incredulously._

 _"You're not fooling anyone Belikov."_

 _I gritted my teeth in anger, but kept my voice leveled._

 _"This isn't information that I've tried to keep a secret. My father's name has been in my file since I joined the academy."_

 _Hans slammed his hand on the table, stopping whatever it was that I was going to say next._

 _"That is not what we're talking about. We're talking about you trying to infiltrate the police force."_

 _What the hell did he mean, infiltrate?_

 _"Aren't you being unfair, Sir. The crimes of my father have nothing to do with me."_

 _"They have everything to do with you. Have you ever heard of the saying, 'Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.' Well, that's not something I believe in. With that being said, I am kicking you out of the police academy."_

 _I was at a loss for words, and the anger that I had been trying to hold down was beginning to boil over. I stood up slowly from my seat, towering over Hans once I straightened myself out._

 _"You're kicking me out?" I asked in disbelief. "Why did you wait four years to tell me this? Why did you wait a week before graduation to tell me this?" I gritted out. "You shouldn't have accepted me to begin with."_

 _"I've told you my reasoning," he said so calmly, pissing me off even more._

 _"You said I'm kicked out, how can I just accept that?"_

 _"Watch who you're talking to."_

 _I slammed my hands on the desk, mimicking the same stance Hans had._

 _"What wrong have I done apart from being the son of a murderer? I belong to no one. I'm not here to serve the mafia. Fuck Ibrahim! I came here to become a police officer, nothing more, nothing less."_

 _"Look at you," Hans said, gesturing to my raging form. "You're boiling with anger."_

 _Hans sat back in his chair, showing me he was done with this conversation._

 _"This doesn't end here," I muttered to him, before turning around and walking away._

Bringing myself back to the present, I thought about what I was going to do next.

This was going to kill my mother. I was all she had left in her life.

After the disappearance of my little brother and the imprisonment of my father 20 years ago, she and I were left alone with one another. She devoted all of her time and energy on me, and I had made her proud. I did good by her.

But now that was all going to change.

I took the wallet out of my back pocket and slid the old photograph out. The picture had been taken right after my sixth birthday, at the park. After all my friends had left, my little brother jumped on to my back and my mother had snapped the picture. We weren't even looking at the camera. No, our attention was solely on each other, just like it had always been.

That was the last picture we had together, before he was taken from us without a trace.

He had been the missing piece inside of me.

"I'm doing this for you Ivan," I whispered, before sliding the picture into the wallet, and putting it back into my pocket.

After 20 years, I had the first ever lead to my missing brother and there was one thing I needed to do before I could start my search.

Something that was going to cost me all of the hard work I had done, and more importantly, my mother's trust.

I took out the loaded gun that had been in the waistband of my jeans, cocking it once.

"You can do this Dimka," I told myself one last time.

With the gun steady by my side, I walked out of the bathroom and went straight towards ground-level stage in front of the graduating class of new police officers.

Before anyone had the chance to react, I lifted my gun and steadied it on the person sitting center stage.

I aimed it at Hans Croft.


	2. Chapter 2

**So since I uploaded the excerpt from Dimitri's POV, I thought I had to do the same for the other main character in the story, which is Adrian. Since it is an excerpt, its very short. The next part of the story is going to be the actual start, where I will explain everything in more detail and it'll have longer chapters, with our fav characters (aka Romitri and Sydrian ;)**

 **I'm still going to focus my attention on my other two stories right now, but I will still try and upload this as much as possible. Enjoy! :)**

 **(Sidenote- With Netflix looking for a new book series to adapt, this is a perfect time to trend #PickUpVampireAcademy and you also need to tag Netflix and NetflixLife. How: Tweet #PickUpVampireAcademy at 1:30 pm EST as much as you can. Don't forget to tag netflix and netflixlifee. Time: December 1st, 01:30 PM EST)**

 **Disclaimer- All characters belong to Richelle Mead.**

"I always divide my enemies into two groups, Sir. The first group containing people who would be my friends under complicated circumstances and the second group being people who will always be my enemy no matter what."

I paused and looked up at my boss, Hans Croft, before continuing.

"Dimitri Belikov belongs in the second group. There was always something off about him that I couldn't trust. And then he pulled a gun on you at graduation last year."

 _I had been seated in the front; being second best in your graduating class had its perks.  
Myself, along with the graduating class had just finished our final pledge when the first shot rang out. _

_Immediately, there had been chaos all around. People from the audience began running away from the sound and screaming._

 _Through all the scrambling bodies, I saw the 6'7" figure of my classmate slowly approaching Hans Croft with his gun raised._

 _"You're a dead man!" He screamed, as the officers surrounding Hans quickly jumped to action and steadied their guns on Belikov._

 _"No one shoot!" Hans yelled as he looked around the men and women protecting him. "No one shoot!"_

 _As everyone ran away from the scene, one woman brushed past every student and officer and stood herself in front of the barrel of Belikov's gun._

 _She was a brown-haired woman in her late forties, who seemed to be trembling in fear and disbelief. Close to her, was a petite, young blond, holding the older woman steady._

 _"Please don't do this," the older woman pleaded and Dimitri faltered for a moment before steadying his hands once again._

 _"Get out of the way Mama," he told her, looking past her to stare down Hans._

 _"Dimka get a grip on yourself! What do you think you're doing," screeched the blond, who seemed angrier than anything._

 _"Stay out of this," barked Dimitri at the young woman, but she didn't seem fazed by his anger._

 _"Why are you doing this," asked the woman in front of him, who I had come to know was his mother._

 _"This scumbag," he said in Hans's direction. "This scumbag ruined my life."_

 _By now, the officials who had been teaching us for the past four years had ushered the students and people attending the ceremony away, but I could still see and hear what was happening._

 _I looked over at Hans, who seemed way too calm for someone who had a gun aimed at him. He had convinced the police officers around him not to shoot at Dimitri, and they seemed to be struggling with the order._

 _"One week before graduation he kicked me out, because of dad. They're not going to let me become a cop," Dimitri told his mom, but kept his eyes on Hans._

 _"You deserved getting kicked out. Now lower that gun."_

 _"I told you this doesn't end here," the angry Russian said._

 _Before Dimitri could shoot, his mother grabbed his hand, forcing the gun to be pointed in her direction instead._

 _"Please don't do this son, please don't ruin your life like this."_

 _"Mom-"_

 _"I'm begging you! Just drop the gun." Dimitri seemed torn as he looked between his mother and Hans. I could see his mother's words were affecting him. He looked emotionally upset._

 _Finally, after what seemed like eternity, he lowered his gun._

 _Not even a moment later, authorities tackled him to the ground and cuffed him._

I shook myself out of the memory that took place 12 months ago. After officers had detained Belikov, he had been sent to prison for a year, a punishment that seemed way to lenient in my opinion.

He was released earlier today.

"If it hadn't already happened in prison, there is no doubt in my mind that Belikov has already joined any gang of criminals that'll be the biggest threat to you and this crime unit," I told Hans. A person like Belikov, who openly threatened to shoot the chief leader in charge of the Organized Crime Unit would be a hot commodity to all crime bosses.

If he wasn't on the side of the law any longer, he would have no other choice than to join the criminals.

"If my gun had been loaded, I would have shot him down myself, Sir."

Croft's eyebrows furrowed briefly before he spoke.

"Let's not talk about Belikov. There was a reason I called you into my office today and I'm going to cut straight to the chase. After Belikov, you were the best student of your class. I'm impressed by what I've read in your file and I want you to join my Organized Crime Unit."

I straightened out in my seat and looked at Hans with complete disbelief.

"Now before you get too excited, I am giving you 6 months. 6 months to complete the tasks I give and prove that you're a worthy asset to my team, or you're out."

"I understand Sir. Thank you for this opportunity."

"Just don't disappoint me." I nodded quickly and he continued. "There has been one man I have been after since the beginning of my 20 year long career." He picked up the file on his desk and opened it up.

Placing it in front of me, I knew who the man in the picture was before he spoke.

"Ibrahim Mazur, mafia leader and the most dangerous person I have ever come across in my career. He owns the most popular steakhouse in the state, and likes to refer to himself as 'The Butcher."

Everything Hans was telling me was information I already knew. Hell any person in law enforcement knew Ibrahim, aka Abe, aka, The Butcher.

"You, along with the rest of the team will have one goal and that will be to take down Ibrahim Mazur. Do you think you can do it?"

"Yes Sir," I told him, trying not to beam too hard. This is what I had been hoping for and the case had practically fallen straight into my lap.

"Good," Hans said in approval. "Now I will call you as soon as the first mission is to take place. That could be in the middle of the night of early in the morning. Whenever it is, I need you to be ready."

"Yes, Sir."

"Alright then, you're excused."

I walked out of the office and met up with the three other people that were on the team, Eddie, Meredith, and Shane.

After getting to know them a bit, I explored the rest of the building, making myself become familiarized with the rooms and people.

This had always been something that came easy to me.

Growing up on the streets like I had, becoming quickly adjusted to my environment was something I learned early on in life.

The earliest memory I had was from around the time I was 5 or 6 years old. Or I guessed I was, I couldn't be sure.

Right after school let out, the other kids in the home and I were forced to beg on the streets. I lived 10 minutes from the city and it wasn't uncommon to see children begging in the bad parts of the area. Every night, we came back to the dump we called home and gave our earnings to the nightmare of my life, the bane of my existence, Robert Doru.

Even back then, he walked with a cane, which he liked to use on us anytime we didn't bring in enough money, if he suspected us of stealing, or if we just pissed him off.

I fit into all three categories, so most of his attention always used to be on me.

I sat down at my desk and tapped my fingers, in the same pattern Robert used to tap his cane.  
It was his signature sound, the one he would make to get our attention.

 _Tap- Tap- TapTapTap._

 _Tap- Tap- TapTapTap._

It was also the same tapping motion I had picked up, the sound I made anytime I was anxious, upset, angry, or all the above.

There were two reasons why I joined the police academy, but the biggest and most important of those reasons was that I wanted to find my family.

If I even had one.  
I mean everyone had a family, right? Everyone had a mother and a father, maybe even a sibling, or two.

I had no clue who my family were. I didn't even know what name I was born with.

Adrian Ivashkov was the name I had given myself, the persona I had created for myself living on the streets.

An 'Adrian' is the perfect guy. He's attractive, nice, funny, and brave. He has all the attributes that girls crave and men strive to achieve.  
'Adrian' is the best person you will ever meet.

And though I had invented myself completely to my liking, there was something that remained missing inside of me.

That was my family. And there was no one and nothing that would stop me from finding them.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is the longest chapter I've ever written and I'm still not 100% happy with it. I wanted this chapter to include both Dimitri and Adrian's but I will most likely split the following chapters up between the two instead of combining it all together.**

 **Please let me know what you think, enjoy, and happy holidays!**

 **Disclaimer- All characters belong to Richelle Mead**

 ** _Dimitri POV_**

It wasn't a surprise that I had acquired the attention of every known law enforcement and criminal the day I tried to kill Hans Croft.

On the first day of my imprisonment, a man named Rufus Tarus had taken an extra liking to me.

He introduced himself as the personal family driver of Abe Mazur. He was the man that ran the largest car garage in our part of the state, a car garage whose owner was also Mazur.

"You know I used to be really good friends with your father," he mentioned in the early days of my imprisonment.

"You don't say?"

"Yeah, he was a crazy ass just like you," he chuckled. That was what Rufus had told everyone and anyone who would listen since the day I stepped foot into prison; that I was a maniac just like my father.

It was good though, because through Rufus, I had acquired the attention of Abe.

Rufus, who was to be released a week before I was, talked up a big storm, telling me how he was going to get me on the in with Mazur, but I always brushed him off telling him I wasn't interested. That only spurred the old man on even more.

"If Abe wants you on his side, then you can't say no," he warned me, but all I did was shrug in response.

"Watch me."

The year came and went, and finally I was a free man again.

I was released early one morning, a small bag and the clothes on my back the only possession I had.

As soon as I stepped foot out of the prison, once an again a free man, I instantly spotted my mother and Sydney waiting for me in the parking lot.

The sight of my mother caused my heart to clench in guilt. This had been the longest we had been away from each other. The worry lines were clear on her face and she seemed to have dropped weight since I had last seen her.

That only caused more guilt to eat away at my chest, but I schooled my features so she wouldn't be able to see how badly the sight of her affected me.

My mom and Sydney finally noticed my presence and all but ran towards me.

I made it easier for them and met them halfway, immediately enveloping my mother's small frame into my arms.

I felt her hands clutching onto the back of my shirt. "I missed you so much," I heard her say, her voice cracking at the end.

I closed my eyes again in guilt, trying not to let the sound, feel, and sight of my mother show my true feelings.

My mom pulled away enough for Sydney to pop in between us and hug me tight.

"Hey you big lug, long time no see," she joked but the way she held onto me told me how much she actually missed me, too.

I had known Sydney Sage for as long as I could remember. She had been my next-door neighbor growing up, but had held onto our relationship even after my mom and I moved away.

She spent most of her days and nights at my house or helping around at my mother's restaurant, though she was a fulltime journalist herself. I don't think I could have stayed a year away from my mother if I didn't trust Sydney to take care of my mom while I was away. She was the sister I never had.

"I want to put this whole mess behind us Dimka," my mom said once Sydney pulled away from my embrace.

As my mom was talking about wanting to leave this prison far behind us, I saw an expensive, sleek black BMW pull up next to us.

"Let's go," Sydney said, taking a hold of my hand and pulling me towards her car just as the driver of the BMW stepped out.

"Randall's boy, just the man I was looking for," Rufus announced as he walked over to where the three of us were standing.

I immediately felt my mother and Sydney tense next to and stepped forward so they were partially shielded behind my back.

"Rufus, what can I do for you?" I asked him, wanting to finish this conversation as quickly as possible.

"I told you on the inside I had a job and place to live ready for you."

"Not interested," I said immediately.

"Why don't you just spend one day with me and you'll see how much you'll enjoy the job. With your record, do you think it'll be easy for you to find a job so quickly? Come with me today and if by the end, you're still not interested, then I'll let you go," he reasoned with me and it did make sense.

If I needed to move forward through all of this, I could hardly do it living with my mom, without a job no less.

This would be my perfect opportunity, but I didn't want to show Rufus how appealing he just made this job offer for me.

"He said he's not interested," I heard Sydney say in a hard tone, before grabbing a hold of my hand again.

I didn't budge though, causing the poor girl to be tugged back.

"Take my mom and go home."

"What?" my mom asked incredulously, sharing a shocked look with Sydney. "Absolutely not Dimka, let's go."

"Mama-"

"No," she cut me off. My mom moved closer to me, looking at Rufus suspiciously before lowering her voice so only I would hear. "Why would you go with this man?"

I put my hands on my mother's shoulders and lowered myself so I was face to face with her.

Softening my voice tremendously, I spoke. "I'll be okay. Go with Sydney and I promise I'll be home soon."

I quickly dropped a kiss onto her head and turned around, because the heartbroken expression that was sure to be on her face would cause me to forget everything and follow my mother to wherever she wanted me to go.

I glanced sideways at Sydney, unsurprised to see how pissed off she was, and gestured for her to take my mom home.

Rufus grinned big, noticing I had decided to take him up on his offer. He clapped me on my back and we both turned when we heard two car doors shut.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Sydney put the car in reverse and drive away.

"I guess we upset your mother," Rufus said, surprisingly sounding guilty.

"I can't do anything about that. There are certain things that she's going to need to get used to," I told him, staring at the car until it completely disappeared from my sight. I turned towards Rufus and hitched my bag further up on my shoulder. "So tell me about this job?"

We settled into his car and he began to drive and fill me in on the details.

"As you know, I run the garage owned by Ibrahim Mazur. Now I know you don't want anything to do with him, but I could use a man like you around there."

"So you need some kind of repair man?" I asked him and he outright laughed at my statement.

"We don't just fix cars at my garage," he said, smirking in my direction.

"I see, so what do you need me there for?"

"Well I do a lot of my own personal business there. A man who looks like you can be quite intimidating. I would like you to be present in all of the deals that go on there so I know I'm completely safe. The second floor of the garage is set up like an apartment and you can live there if you'd like. On top of that, if you really do like fixing cars, then that can be considered your day job, so to speak."

I thought over everything Rufus said. I knew what kind of 'personal business' he was talking about. The reason he was in prison was for a drug deal gone bad, and he wanted to hire me to be there as his bodyguard. What surprised me though, was how a man like Mazur still allowed Rufus to run the garage considering he spent so much time in and out of jail.

I didn't want to end up behind bars again, but this might be my only chance to get the 'in' that I was looking for. Plus, the garage offered me a place to live, so I wouldn't be worrying my mother even more by sneaking in and out of the house at all hours of the day.

"Okay," I said finally.

"Okay?" Rufus asked, surprised that I was convinced so easily.

"Okay, I accept."

We had arrived at a spacious garage about a half hour later. The place was filled with exotic vehicles, and I was even less surprised to see a bunch of shady looking men working in the place.

Rufus introduced me briefly to the group and told me I could become comfortable upstairs, before his next business deal was supposed to happen.

The top floor of the garage was pretty run down, with the paint practically chipping off the wall. The main room had a large couch, pool table, and bed in the corner. Off the to opposite side was a small kitchen and bathroom.

The best part of the place though was a balcony that spanned from one end of the building all the way to the other.

It was better than nothing, I thought so I dropped my bag onto the floor and settled in.

XXXXX

A few hours later, Rufus called for me to come down, because the man he was meant to meet up with would be there soon. After showering, I put on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, surprised to see how tight it felt around my biceps and pecs. I guess the amount of working out I had done behind bars paid off.

Rufus was about to brief me on the individual he was meant to meet up with, but he was cut off by a loud sound I usually associated with racecars.

The sound seemed to be getting louder as if it was getting closer to the garage.

"Fuck," Rufus muttered and ran a hand through his greying hair. "What day is it today?"

"The 20th."

He muttered a few more curses. "I completely forgot I told her to bring her car in today."

"Who are you talking about?" I asked just as the car finally entered into the garage.

My jaw dropped as I looked at the machinery in front of me. It was a 1999 Silver Nissan Skyline r35 GT-R, and it was the first time I was seeing this car in person.

I looked around the garage and spotted 4 brand new GTRs parked, but nothing compared to the older model in front of me.

I didn't think I could see something as good-looking as this car, but then the owner of the vehicle stepped out.

The first thing I saw were long, dark brown locks belonging to a female in a black and white school uniform.

My jaw dropped even further when the mystery girl turned around.

I didn't know if it was due to the fact that I had spent a year in a facility where I was completely separated from the opposite sex or if the person in front of me was truly as radiant as she looked, but I was floored.

One look at her tan skin, exotic features, and lean body were enough to make my heart race.

She was absolutely beautiful.

"Mr. Tarus," she spoke, her voice sounding just as enchanting as her looks. "The look on your face is telling me you completely forgot about our appointment."

There wasn't an ounce of anger in her tone, but she did sound dejected. I wanted to take that frown away from her face.

"No sweetheart," he said, clearly lying. "I just didn't realize I had double booked you, along with another client."

"Oh well, I don't mind waiting if you don't. I had already told my dad I was going to be stopping here after school."

"Your dad knows you're here," he asked alarmed, causing the girl to take a hesitant step backwards.

"Yes, why?"

"Just hold on a moment," he said before beckoning me away from her. "Alright new plan Dimitri, you're going to make sure she stays hidden while I'm doing my personal business, but you can't let her catch onto what we're doing."

I looked over at the girl, seeing her casting a weary look our way, before turning back to Rufus.

"Why?"

"The thing is, the man who is coming here today is not a fan of her father. So if he sees her here, I have a feeling he will be causing some unnecessary drama."

"Who is her father?"

"Abe Mazur," he whispered.

 _What the hell?_

I looked over again at the girl to see her leaning against the door of her car and playing with the ends of her hair. How could she be the spawn of that scum bastard?

As if sensing my eyes on her, she looked up and met my gaze. Just like I had observed her from head to toe, she seemed to be doing the same to me. Her brown eyes traveled from my feet, all the way up the length of my body, pausing briefly at my torso, before her eyes met mine again.

I thought she was beautiful before, but then she gave me a small, shy smile.

"I'll do it," I told Rufus immediately.

I was about to make a move towards her when a black SUV pulled into the garage.

"Shit, it's too late," Rufus muttered.

The doors of the SUV opened, showing two beefy looking men wearing matching black suits. One of them approached the back door, and shorter man, in a fitting blue suit came out. His black hair looked greasy and he had a briefcase in his hand. He had a cocky grin on his face, but it completely disappeared when he spotted the brown-haired girl.

"Is this some kind of set-up Tarus?" he bellowed in anger. The girl flinched at his loud voice, but quickly schooled her features to glare at the man.

"Not at all Omar, let's take this inside my office," Rufus said, approaching the man.

The man took a step back, and his men were immediately on the defensive.

"Does Mazur know that his precious flower and I are in the same place right now?" he asked Rufus, but kept his gaze on the girl.

I clenched my fist in anger as I saw her cower slightly into herself. He was making her uncomfortable and enjoying it.

Rufus didn't say a word, confirming this man, Omar's, suspicions.

"Well let's send your daddy a little gift, why don't we?"

Almost immediately as he spoke, the man, along with his two bodyguards brandished weapons in their hands. Omar had his pointed at the girl, while the other two spaced out and kept a look out at the men next to her.

The girl looked completely terrified now, but seemed to be glued in her spot in fear. Rufus started rambling a mile a minute, negotiating with the man.

For a girl who had a mobster daddy, she seemed completely out of her comfort zone as if she had never even seen a gun in her life.

I silently took a few steps back, crouched down and made my way behind the two bodyguards.

Though I was massive in size, I had always been quiet on my feet.

Omar was so distracted trying to scare the poor girl; he hadn't noticed me sneaking behind his first man.

I quickly wrapped my arm around the man's throat and tightened my hold on his neck by placing my unoccupied arm against the back of his neck. The sleeper hold took few more seconds to work before the man went limp in my hold. I quietly laid him down on the floor, pocketing his gun as I went.

Abe's daughter caught my eye and I mouthed to her, "Don't worry."

She diverted her attention back to Omar as he took another step towards her, completely disregarding Rufus.

I quickly and quietly went behind other bodyguard and did the same thing to him, depositing his body onto the dirty floor of the garage

All I had left was Omar.

"Your father ruined my life. I wonder how he'll feel when I drop your dead body on his doorstep," he threatened her and cocked his gun.

I approached him from the back and tapped him on his shoulder.

"What?" he bit out, turning around to look at the person who distracted him?

His eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me and I punched him hard across the face a second later, knocking him unconscious.

The girl took an audible, shaky sigh of relief. I saw her slump against her car as and take repetitive deep breaths to calm herself down.

Making sure that Omar really was out for the count, I approached the girl and spoke to her for the first time.

"Are you alight?" I asked her.

She looked up startled, as if surprised to see me in front of her.

She looked at the bodies of all three men before turning her attention back to me.

"Yes, thank you," she said gratefully.

I nodded my head at her and turned around to Rufus.

The man was just as surprised to see how the last few minutes had turned to such chaos.

"My apologies sweetheart, I never meant to put you in harms way," he said, approaching her. She took another step back and looked at him apprehensively.

Well, Rufus was a dead man for sure.

I may have never met Abe Mazur in person, but I doubt this was something he would take lightly.

"You did good Dimitri," he said turning towards me.

"Dimitri?" that musical voice spoke again. Damn my name had never sounded so good to me before. "Is your name Dimitri?"

"Yes," I told her nodding my head.

"My name is Rose," she bought her hand in front of her offering it to me. "Rose Mazur."

I looked at her hand suspiciously. Here was the daughter of the man I hated the most, yet she seemed completely unlike what I would have imagined. Looking into her sincere brown eyes once more, I took her hand in my larger one and shook it.

XXXX

It wasn't a surprise that 20 minutes after this whole fiasco had ended, Ibrahim Mazur showed up.

The man was just as menacing as I would have assumed. Donned from head to toe in flashy clothing and dripping in gold, he resembled a pirate mobster.  
Though he tried to come off as easy-going, no one missed the icy glare he sent in Rufus's direction.

"Kizm are you alright," he asked Rose, but kept his gaze leveled at Rufus.

"Yes Baba," she said immediately. I saw her take a glance at me, before she continued. "Dimitri saved my life."

For the first time since he came in, Abe looked over at me. His dark brown eyes assessed me slowly, starting from my head down to my toes. I kept my stance rigid, trying to show him how little he was affecting me.

"You're Randall's boy?" he asked me and I clenched my jaw.

Seeing as all of the attention was now on me, I nodded my head in response.

"I've heard a lot about you. You've earned yourself quite the reputation on the streets."

That was a surprise to me. I knew people had heard about what I had done at graduation last year, but I hadn't assumed it would've have spread throughout town so quickly.

"I'm curious, if you were going to defy the system, why did you decide to become a cop in the first place?"

"That's personal, but I'm going to ask the person who wasted four years of my life about that," I said, referring to Hans.

Whatever I had said seemed to please Abe, because he became even more at ease.

"You're not at all like your father," he said.

That was one topic I refused to indulge Abe on. Just like I had told Hans, I had nothing to do with my father. Abe seemed to catch onto that, as well.

"Anyway, let's move on to why I'm here. You saved my daughter's life. I owe you."

I glanced over at Rose and thought that it hadn't been hard to protect her as I had done.

"I am not the type of man who pays my debt late so make your wish."

"I didn't do it so I would get something in return. A thank you is enough," I told them.

Abe seemed surprised and he shared that look with his daughter, who looked more impressed than anything.

"Alright then, very noble of you if I do say so myself. Thank you." Before he had the chance to walk away, he asked me another question. "Will you be available if we ever need your help again?"

I shrugged and answered him honestly, "We'll see."

From everything I had said to Abe during this conversation, those two words seemed to stun him the most. He turned back three times to look me over, as if he couldn't believe someone had actually said 'we'll see' rather than jumping at the idea of being used by him.

Eventually he nodded his head in my direction and took his leave.

Rose was behind all of them, but before she had the chance to follow the men out, I moved forward and gently grabbed her arm.

She seemed startled by my touch and turned to look at me.

"I may have told your father I didn't need anything in return, but there is a way you can thank me for saving your life."

Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked at me apprehensively, so to put her mind at ease, I explained myself.

"Let me be the one to help you fix your car up," I told her.

"Are you serious?" she asked in amusement, but I wasn't joking.

"Yes, I'm going to be here full time now. I don't know who usually fixes it for you, but I'd like to be the one to take over in helping you with it."

"And that'll be my way of thanking you?"

"Say yes and I'll consider us even."

Rose ran a hand through her dark locks before gracing me with a small, radiant smile.

"Okay, how about we start tomorrow."

XXXXX

I shouldn't have been surprised that the following day Abe had requested Rufus and I to meet him at his restaurant for lunch.

I had been honest when I told him I didn't need anything in return for saving Rose's life.

I would have done it either way. And I was glad I did, because it had given me the opportunity to get to know the mysterious brunette a little bit more.

While I was on edge about what Abe could possibly want to discuss with me, Rufus was practically sweating bullets. He had fucked up big time putting Rose in danger the way he had, especially since he was doing business with known enemies of Abe.

Whatever happened today wouldn't end well for Rufus.

I offered to drive us considering the man was practically bouncing with anxiety. It didn't take long to pull up to his famous 'Kebob House,' a Turkish style restaurant that specialized in all of the different meat dishes it offered.

Abe was at the center, grilling, with his men surrounding him on each side. He looked up as we approached him and stood up from behind the grill.

"Thank you both for coming here on such short notice. I hope the two of you are hungry."

"No no Sir we're okay," Rufus stuttered out, showing all of us how nervous he was.

"How about you?"

"I'm good," I told him, my stoicism not allowing him to get a feel on what I may be feeling.

"Then we can get straight to business," Abe said, suddenly turning an icy glare in Rufus's direction.

The man took a visible step back, not even the presence of customers making him feel safe.

"Why do you think I called you here Rufus?" Abe asked in an eerily calm voice.

"To discuss what happened yesterday. I am so sor-"

"How do you think you should pay for your mistake?" Abe asked, completely cutting Rufus off.

The man next to me gulped again and I felt a little bad for him. Yeah he was a criminal, but facing off against Abe was a terrifying thing to do.

"Whatever you believe is appropriate Sir," he said, lowering his head in obedience.

I tried to keep the look of disgust off of my face. How did a man acquire so much power to have people practically kneel at his feet?

Abe turned his attention towards me. "I know you said I didn't owe you for what you did yesterday, but there is one thing I don't mess around with and that is my family. So," he said, looking between Rufus and I, "the garage is now yours."

Rufus and I both shared a stunned look before turning back to Abe.

"But Sir, I've ran that place for the past 12 years."

"And now it's Dimitri's turn. Consider yourself lucky Rufus, I'm being far more lenient than you deserve."

I could tell Rufus wanted to argue, but his fear greatly outweighed his anger so he nodded in reluctance.

I was going to tell Abe I wasn't interested, but we were interrupted.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a pleasant sight," Hans Croft said, grabbing a hold of our attention.  
Hans wasn't alone though. Next to him was a former classmate of mine, Adrian Ivashkov.  
The only thing I knew about the man was that we were always neck and neck at the academy. He was the only person who even came close to outscoring me.  
Seeing him next to Hans caused a spark of annoyance to run through me.

I was supposed to be the one working side by side with Hans, but my parentage forced me to align myself with the snake next to me.

Since I was forced out of the academy, Adrian Ivashkov had become Hans's right hand man.

 ** _Adrian POV_**

"Alright boys, take him through the back entrance. The front is always crawling with journalists."

I told the cop before he had the chance to pull into the front of the police station.

We had caught one of the men involved in a burglary group and I wanted to avoid it becoming public before we caught all of the men involved.

The cop car pulled into the back entrance, like I had advised and I opened the back door to take the individual inside.

I wasn't even two steps away from the back door before I saw a flash of light go off on my right side.

I looked over to see a petite, blond girl holding a camera up to her face. Noticing my annoyed expression, she smirked in my direction before clicking another picture.

"Take him inside and get him processed," I told the cop and handed the handcuffed man off to him.

"Where did you come from? We try to trick the press, but you tricked us instead. Well done," I said sarcastically as I approached her.

"I'm just doing my job," she shrugged.

"Well let me see all of your hard work then," I said and took the camera from her hands before she had the chance to object.

"Hey give that back," she said angrily. I lifted the camera above my head and clicked a few buttons to get rid of the pictures she had just taken. She wasn't short, but I still towered over her so she jumped up and down, trying to grab her camera that I kept out of reach.

A few clicks later and they were all deleted.

"Here," I said, giving it back to her.

Her slim fingers skimmed across the camera and she looked up at me looking even more pissed than before.

"You deleted all of my pictures! Asshole."

"Most people call me Adrian, but asshole works fine, too," I winked at her and walked away.

15 minutes later, I was called into Hans's office.

"Why did I just see a young reporter crying outside of my building?"

My eyes widened slightly when I realized who he was talking about.

"Crying," I asked incredulously.

"Yes, she was crying saying she might lose her job because you deleted all of her pictures. Look, I don't like reporters either, but this one seemed genuinely upset. What if she publishes a bad story about our department, because of what you did?"

I sighed in annoyance. There was so much work I had to do and the last thing I needed was a crying journalist.

"I want you to go and handle the situation," he said, before focusing his attention on some paperwork at his desk.

I guess that was my cue to leave so I did. Still feeling annoyed, I quickly walked outside where I knew the blond girl would be waiting and I had been right.

She was leaning against the wall of the police station, not a teardrop in sight.

"You are such a crybaby," I said and she looked up at the sound of my voice. "You were trying to make me lose my job for a couple of pictures?"

She looked a bit taken back as if realizing what her 'crying' could have caused me before glaring in my direction, again.

"You deleted every single one of my pictures. What am I supposed to tell my editor when he asks me why I have no story? You didn't get fired, but I sure will."

My eyebrows furrowed as I contemplated my own actions. The blond girl turned off her camera and sighed dejectedly when she noticed I had no response for her.

"Forget it," she mumbled, storing her camera away in her bag.

I felt an inkling of guilt as I looked at her frown, and spoke without thinking.

"You want a story?"

Her head perked up, but she still seemed hesitant.

"The man I bought in spilled the beans about his pickpocketing gang. They're all supposed to be meeting soon at the County Fair that's in town right now and I was going to ride alone, but I guess I can make an exception and have you ride along with me. It'll be kind of like we're undercover together."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said, before turning around and getting ready to leave.

"This is supposed to be the biggest arrest we've had in months. Come with me and you won't get fired. Hell, you may even get promoted."

She stopped in her tracks, her back still to me.

I stood there waiting for a yes or no answer, before she finally turned around and nodded.

XXXXX

Not even an hour later, the journalist, who introduced herself as Sydney Sage, and I had arrived at the fair. It was only 1 p.m. so the place wasn't as crowded.

"Put the camera in the bag or it'll look suspicious," I told her and she did as I said. She walked side-by-side with me and I took the time to look her over. She was tall and slim, coming up to my shoulders. Her skin was pale, but completely flawless and void of any makeup. As she glanced down at her bag, I saw a glimpse of her brown eyes that seemed closer to the color gold. She had dark, golden-blond hair that was shining in the sun. It looked like a halo surrounding her; she looked like an angel.

Sydney looked so familiar to me, but I couldn't understand where I had seen her before.

She kept tugging nervously on the ends of her hair as her eyes darted around the place.

"Don't forgot, you and I came here to have fun. We're supposed to be looking like a couple."

"Why do we need to look like a couple?" she asked me.

"Look around, aside from the older folks here, what do the rest of the people have in common?"

She looked around and sure enough, majority of the people here were holding hands, giggling flirtatiously, or kissing.

"Fine," she muttered.

I approached one of the booths set up, where the person had to shoot a number of targets to win a prize.

"Hey man, how much does this one cost?" I asked the guy running the booth.

"5 dollars for 3 shots." I gave him the money and took the fake rifle into my hands.

I shot once and hit the target. Glancing to the side, I quietly spoke so only Sydney could hear me.

"You see those guys over there?" She looked over to 2 boys who didn't look a day over 18, and nodded.

"They're our targets." Her eyes widened and she came close to speak in my ear.

"Are we going to approach them alone?" she asked me, her breath hitting against the skin of my neck.

I took a discreet whiff of her hair when she spoke to me, and caught the scent of lilies on her skin.

"No, there are a couple of police officers here, as well." She sighed in relief.

I shot twice again, hitting the target both times. Glancing to my side, I saw the boys walking in our direction.

I quickly dropped the rifle, turned around, and wrapped my arm around Sydney's small waist.

"Hurry up and kiss me."

Her eyes widened and she pushed against my chest.

"Why?" she muttered angrily.

"We're supposed to be a couple remember?" I said, smiling at how cute she looked when she glared at me.

"A guy who shoots to win a toy could never be my boyfriend."

I smirked at her, but loosened my hold so she could slip out of my grasp. I heard her huff lightly and she stood by my side again.

The guys we had been watching approached two equally young girls. They were laughing amongst themselves, each guy getting comfortably close to the girls, before all four began walking in the opposite direction.

Sydney turned towards me and pushed against my shoulder.

"Those were just a couple of high school kids. Is this some kind of joke?"

As she yelled at me, I saw 3 men, a couple of years older than me, looking suspiciously towards one another.

"Are there even any thieves to catch or did you make that up too?"

I looked over at one of my colleagues and nodded in the older men's direction.

""I can't believe-"

"Get your camera ready," and not even a second later all 3 men grabbed the purses off the unsuspecting fair-goers in front of them.

It was slight chaos after that as I chased after the man closest to me. It didn't take long before I had tackled him onto the ground.

Looking around, I saw my colleagues had apprehended the other two men, as well. After reading them their rights and cuffing them, I looked towards Sydney.

"My little journalist," I called out to her and she approached us with her camera raised. "Take your pictures."

After snapping a few shots, she lowered the camera and smiled at me for the first time that day.

I was momentarily stunned at how pretty she looked, before I put on my signature smirk.

"You know you owe me an actual date, right?"

Sydney gave me a small smile and to my surprise, nodded her head 'yes.'

XXXXX

I looked at the address Sydney had texted me and approached the place on foot.

It was the following day and I was dressed in a white button down and jeans. I let her pick the day and place she wanted to have our first official date.

Since I technically didn't know her, I wasn't sure what to expect, but even I was surprised when I found myself in front of a small, Russian restaurant named 'Ivan's.'

The storefront was glass so I could easily see inside of it. There was only seating for a handful of customers and there only seemed to be one woman working.

I felt a small tap on my shoulder and came face to face with Sydney.

The restaurant behind me was completely forgotten as I took in the blond-haired beauty in front of me.

She was wearing a white sundress that came a couple of inches above her knees. The neckline of her dress gave me the opportunity to see the small, golden lily necklace lying against her collarbone.

The girl must really have a thing for lilies.

"Wow," I breathed out. "You look so pretty," I told her truthfully.

She suddenly became uncharacteristically shy and I smirked seeing the slight blush creeping up her neck.

Would she have the same blush between her breasts?

I mentally shook my head from that thought, not wanting to risk getting aroused while we were in public.

"You look very nice, too," she said, smiling softly in my direction. "Why don't we go inside?"

I followed her in and I was instantly hit with the aroma of different types of food cooking. The older woman standing behind the counter looked so familiar, yet I couldn't think of where I had seen her before. She looked up as the door shut behind me and smiled brightly in our direction.

"Sydney, sweetheart, what a pleasant surprise." She quickly came from behind the counter and hugged Sydney.

"Hi Olena," Sydney said just as sweetly. They pulled away from each other, allowing me to get a look at her features. She had brown hair and kind, brown eyes. The woman in front of me had one of the most friendly and inviting smiles I had ever seen.

"Olena, this is my friend Adrian."

Olena smiled warmly in my direction and offered me her hand.

"Welcome son, I hope you like it here." She had a Russian accent and as I shook her hand, I immediately realized why both females had look so familiar to me. This was Dimitri's mom and Sydney was the blond female who had been trying to talk her way through to Dimitri at graduation last year.

"Why don't you both take a seat and I'll be right with you."

Sydney and I didn't even need to order, because Olena bought out a plate of everything she had cooked.

I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten such good food and began shoveling it into my mouth without a second thought.

"Umm do you mind eating a little slower?" Sydney said, looking at me in slight alarm. She barely had any food on her own plate and even that looked like it had been untouched.

I wanted to point out her own odd eating habit, but thought better than to criticize a female when it came to her food.

"It's a habit I've had since I was little," I said, explaining why I was eating like that. "I had to finish before someone took my food away."

Her eyes widened slightly and I knew she wanted to ask me to explain myself further, but I didn't give her the chance.

"How do you know Olena?"

"I grew up in the same neighborhood she lived in. Her son Dimitri and I are really good friends."

"You're still neighbors?"

"No they moved when I was still really young, but I never lost contact with them. I consider Olena more my parent than I do my own," she said chuckling, but there was barely any humor in it. "And Dimitri is like the brother I never had."

That I understood. I had my own brown-haired best friend, that I considered my sister more than anything.

"Let the poor boy eat," Olena said, bringing over some warm pastries to the table.

"I wouldn't call what Adrian is doing to be considered eating. It's like he's fighting his food," Sydney joked.

"Did you like everything?" The older woman asked me.

"I never knew what comfort food tasted like until now. Thank you," I told her as sincerely as possible and meaning it.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. How do you know Sydney? Are you a journalist, as well?"

"No, I'm actually a police officer," I told her and I saw her smile falter a bit.

"Oh that's good, well don't let me distract you from your food," she said and walked back into the kitchen.

"Did I say something wrong?" I asked worried by the sudden change in Olena.

Sydney quickly shook her head. "No, you probably just reminded her of Dimitri."

I knew what had happened with her son, but I still asked Sydney what she meant.

"Dimitri was supposed to graduate last year, but he got kicked out of the academy. He couldn't accept what happened to him and threatened to shoot your boss, Hans I think his name is."

"No way," I said, playing along with her story.

"Yeah he was just released yesterday morning, but it hasn't gotten any better. Now he's hanging around these odd men.

"Odd?"

"Yeah, like dodgy looking fellows," Sydney explained.

Well what I had told Hans yesterday came true. It didn't take long for Belikov to align himself with the wrong side of the law.

"So, does Olena have any other kids?"

Sydney gave me a sad smile and looked in the direction of Olena, who was busy plating food for some customers.

"She had another son, Ivan." She paused and looked over at Olena again, before turning back to me. "He was kidnapped as a child."

My eyes practically bugged out of my head at what Sydney just told me. "What happened then?"

"Police came to her house a few weeks later with his bloody shirt," she said and I could hear the sadness clear in her voice, though she tried to hide.

"That's horrible. Please tell me she has a husband so she didn't have to deal with this all on her own."

Sydney put her hands up in front of her as if warding off my question.

"Let's not even get into that story. Olena's been alone as far back as I can remember," she told me.

Now I took my time looking over the older woman. As I looked closely at her features, beyond her smiling face was a person who looked tired and worn out from what the world had dealt them.

I recognized that look because it was the same one I saw every time I looked in the mirror.

Without even realizing it, my fingers began tapping against the table as I continued to look at Olena.

 _Tap- Tap- TapTapTap._

 _Tap- Tap- TapTapTap._

I don't know how long I did that for before I saw Sydney's dainty hand waving in front of my face.

"Psht," she said, getting my attention. She gestured to my hand that was still tapping away. "What are you doing?"

"Oh nothing," I said, brushing her off. "Another old habit of mine. It's just that Olena's story made me think of my own childhood."

"Don't worry too much about her. Olena is the strongest woman I know."

I didn't personally know many people, but I didn't argue with her about Olena.

Looking at the older woman again, I was filled with a deep anger towards Dimitri.

How can he call himself a man when a woman as amazing as his mother was suffering? Some people didn't realize how good they had it. I had only met Olena half an hour ago, but if she were my mother, I'd do everything in my power to keep her happy, especially considering all she's been through in her life.

"May we have the bill Olena," I called out to her.

"Stop, this dinner is on me remember. I owe you," Sydney said, digging through her purse.

"Hush, I had only said that as a joke," I told her pulling out my wallet.

"No need to argue you two, there is no bill," Olena said coming over to us with two carry out cups. "Here's some hot chocolate for the road."

"But Olena, I ate so much."

"It was your first time here, please I insist."

"Thank you," Sydney said and I thanked her, as well.

Sydney and I told her our goodbyes, but not before promising her I would be back very soon.

"Do you need to go to work?" Sydney asked, but the ringing of my phone cut off my reply. I saw it was Hans calling me and quickly picked up.

He told me to meet him outside of the "Kebob House," and I instantly recognized the name of the place. It was the restaurant owned by Abe Mazur.

"I'll be right there sir," I told him and hung up. "What are you doing tomorrow after work?" I asked Sydney.

"Nothing why?"

"Since you chose the place for our first date, I want to take you somewhere that has the best coffee in town."

Sydney gave me a small smile and nodded her head. "That sounds nice."

Without thinking too much about it, I leaned forward and brushed my lips across her cheek, surprised at how soft her skin felt against my mouth. She seemed surprised at the gesture, but the blush showed me that she didn't mind what I had done. Giving her my signature smirk, I said goodbye to her and left.

It didn't take me long after that to pull up in front of the restaurant. I saw that Hans was already there.

"Why are we here Sir?"

"I heard Mazur has recruited another man into his team and I thought it was only polite for us to formally introduce ourselves to them," he told me. I smirked at what he said. This was something cops loved to do. It was sort of an intimidation technique to let the criminals know that we had our eyes on them, so they always stayed on edge.

"After you," I told him and we walked into the restaurant.

What made Abe's place so unique in comparison to all of the other places around here was that he had a big grill right in the center of the restaurant. While there was still a kitchen where most of the cooking was done, he usually sat in the center and grilled the meat for the customers.

But that wasn't where our attention was. No, our attention was in front of the grill, where Abe was standing with his typical goons and someone new- Dimitri Belikov.

Just the sight of him pissed me off again as I thought about how upset Olena would be if she knew that her son was hanging around here.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a pleasant sight," Hans said, bringing the group's attention to us.

Dimitri seemed surprised for a moment, before he scowled in Hans's direction.

"And what do I owe this lovely surprise to," Abe said sarcastically. I could tell he was annoyed that we were here, but he hid it well behind his usual mask of indifference.

"I heard there was a new man that joined your crew. I thought I'd introduce myself, but it seems that won't be necessary."

Hans leveled his hard stare at Dimitri before continuing.

"Nice to see you where you finally belong," Hans said looking pointedly between Abe and I.

"Be grateful to my mother, your alive today because of her," he told him, referring to how she had come between Hans and the gun at graduation.

"Watch your mouth," I cut in, speaking for the first time since I had gotten here.

"Don't get involved."

"Or what?" I asked getting closer to his face. "Are you going to try and shoot me, too?"

A sigh of annoyance left him, but he couldn't deny that I had a point.

"I haven't hurt a soul up to this day. If I do shoot someone, it's because they deserve it." he finished off his statement by turning his gaze back onto Hans.

"Alright, enough. What else do you want from this man Chief, haven't you ruined his life enough," Abe asked him.

Hans scoffed and shook his head. "It's obvious I didn't do it for nothing. He ran straight to you."

I saw Abe take a step closer to Dimitri.

"You made the mistake of giving him up. He's under my protection now," Abe said, placing a hand onto Dimitri's shoulder.

Dimitri seemed momentarily surprised before he nodded his head in Abe's direction, agreeing with him.

Hans looked inquisitively at the two of them. "So this is the side you chose?"

"You heard the man," Dimitri replied back. It seemed that's all the confirmation Hans needed.

Dimitri Belikov was now an official member of Abe Mazur's gang.

 ** _Third POV_**

Dimitri and Adrian both sat in their respective homes that night, going over the day's events.

Dimitri went over to his mother's place after the meeting with Abe to have dinner with her and Sydney, who practically lived in his mother's house.

And Adrian sat in his lofty, bachelor pad, alone.

Both men were pulled out of their thoughts when their cell phones rang.

Looking at the screen, it was exactly who they expected it to be.

"Hello," they both said, to the person on the phone.

They listened carefully, and responded back.

"I'll be right there," they said, before hanging up.

This was it.

All Dimitri worked for in the academy, the last year he spent in prison, was all leading up to this moment.

All Adrian had worked for in the academy, the trust he had gained along the way, was all leading up to this moment.

As Dimitri made his way to the rooftop of a popular hotel in the city, Adrian went to the basement of an abandoned building.

As they got closer to their destination, both men could see familiar figures up ahead.

"Sir," Dimitri's strong, yet respectful tone echoed in the quiet of the night.

Hans looked back at Dimitri, beaming with pride.

"My boy," he responded back, putting aside his serious and stoic nature to pull the younger man into a fierce hug.

Elsewhere, Adrian couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he approached the man that had saved him from the streets all those years ago.

"Baba," he called out and the man in question grinned at him.

"My son," he said affectionately before enveloping Adrian in a hug.

After pulling away from one another, Abe asked Adrian the important question that had been on his mind all day long.

"Are you in, Adrian?"

"I'm in," he responded back smugly.

On the rooftop, Hans pulled away from Dimitri and asked him the question he had on the tip of his tongue since last year, when he had called Dimitri into his office a week before graduation.

"Are you in, Dimitri?"

"I'm in."


	4. Chapter 4

**So the italics are going to be flashbacks. I'm sorry there are so many flashbacks in the story, but its important to know the backgrounds of the characters. Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think!**

 **Disclaimer- All characters belong to Richelle Mead.**

 ** _Dimitri POV_**

"I really thought you were going to shoot me at graduation," Hans said, laughing.

"Well I had to make it look believable."

 _"Belikov," Hans called back to me once I was a few feet away from his office. My hands were trembling in barely contained rage and I had to bite back the curses that were lodged in my throat. Taking a deep breath, I turned around and looked at what Hans could possibly want from me now._

 _"We're not done talking yet," he said, and his facial expression now was completely different from the one I had seen just moments ago. Thinking there was literally nothing else I had left to lose, I released a sigh of frustration and went back to the office._

 _"Sit, please," he said, gesturing towards the chair I had occupied a few minutes earlier. "There are some things I need to tell you."_

 _"Are you trying to mess with me?" I asked, my voice sounding clipped to my own ears._

 _Hans sighed deeply and shook his head. "I needed to see what your reaction was going to be. I found what I was looking for, now please have a seat."_

 _I looked at him untrustingly and reluctantly took a seat._

 _"What can you tell me about your brother's disappearance."_

 _The question was a shock and caused me to physically move back in my seat._

 _"I don't understand, what does my brother have anything to do with this?"_

 _"You'll find out in a moment. Please," Hans gestured to me, asking me to speak._

 _Hans had already fucked with me once today so I was extremely hesitant to share the one most painful moment of my life. Seeing as there was no way I was going to get anything out of Hans other wise, I decided to tell him._

 _"It happened 20 years ago," I started. "I was 5 and my brother Ivan was 3 years old. It was the middle of the day and we were waiting for my mother to finish making us lunch."_

 _I could still remember bits and pieces of that day. It was April so the weather was pleasantly warm. I remember it only being my mother, brother, and I at home because my dad had been arrested one month earlier.  
Ivan was an energetic child and always enjoyed moving around. _

_"My brother convinced me to play hide and seek with him while we waited for lunch."_

 _I paused briefly, running my hands through my hair. It was always difficult getting through this story._

 _"I told him to hide, while I closed my eyes and counted. There was brick wall that served as fence right in front of our house and I assumed he would be hiding there. After I had counted to 20, I began looking for him."_

 _I searched everywhere; our front and back yard, through the trees surrounding my house, behind the wall. I ran up and down the street screaming his name, but it was too late. He was gone._

 _I cleared my throat and continued. "A few weeks later, the police showed up holding the shirt Ivan had been wearing the day he disappeared. It was covered in blood."_

 _That's all I could tell him, any more would be too painful.  
I sighed deeply once again and looked up at Hans. He had a thoughtful expression on his face and had yet to say a word. _

_He glanced down at the floor near his feet and picked up a small, white cardboard box._

 _It was the type usually given to prisoners containing their belongings once their time in jail was up._

 _Hans set it on the table in front of me and I looked at him curiously._

 _What did this have to do with Ivan?_

 _"When your father died in prison, no one had been there to claim his belongings," Hans said. My eyes snapped back at the box once I realized what it was. It contained things that belonged to my father._

 _"I was curious to see what was in here and I think you will be, too."_

 _He opened up the lid and set it aside. Hans pushed the box lightly in my direction, allowing me to take a look inside._

 _I stood up, feeling a slight tremble going through my legs. If I thought the previous meeting I had with Hans was odd, this one was just plain weird._

 _Inside the box were a few pieces of clothing, some that sparked a memory in my mind of my father wearing it in front of me._

 _I carefully rifled through, seeing a carton of cigarettes, an old lighter, and other crap that held nothing of importance to me. As I reached the very bottom of the box, my hand met with the hard cover of children's book._

 _I recognized it immediately. The book itself was the size of my hand and contained Russian lullabies and nursery rhymes that I remembered my father reading to Ivan and I on the occasional nights he felt like being a good dad._

 _My hands ran over the worn down cover, instantly recalling all of the times I had seen it in my father's hands._

 _I made a move to put it back in the box, but Hans's voice stopped me._

 _"Open it," he urged me._

 _I looked at him curiously and opened up the book. It wasn't until I reached the last page that I saw there was a picture inside._

 _I quickly took it out, discarding the book back into the box._

 _It was a polaroid, dated 16 years ago. I looked closely at the picture and saw it was of a little boy, around the age of 6 or 7. He was wearing ratty clothing that had visible stains and holes in it, and leaning against a faded blue colored building._

 _I looked closely at the boy in the picture, feeling a sense of familiarity as my eyes skimmed over his face._

 _I looked up at Hans questioningly._

 _"Turn it over," he said and I did just that._

 _On the back of the picture was a sentence, written in a neat handwriting._

 ** _Keep quiet if you want him to live._**

 _I reread the sentence at least 10 times before I flipped it over to look at the boy again._

 _It couldn't be…_

 _"Dimitri," Hans spoke, pulling my attention away from the picture. "I don't think your brother is dead."_

 _I stared at him long and hard before I looked back at the picture in my hand._

 _"I used to think that your father's loyalty was unbelievable. For a man to spend his whole life in prison, and dying there just to protect a man like Abe…" Hans shook his head as if he still had trouble believing it. "But then I found this picture. Dimitri I don't think your father stayed quiet, because of his loyalty. I think he stayed quiet, because he was threatened."_

 _I head shot up again to look at Hans._

 _"I believe Abe had something to do with your brother's disappearance. The note on the back is a clear warning and the only reason I can think of for why your father had this picture with him is obvious. That boy in the picture is your brother."_

 _To say I was stunned was an understatement. If my legs had been trembling before, they were outright shaking now. I blindly reached behind me and fell back into the seat._

 _20 years._

 _For 20 years I was told to believe that my brother was dead. And now, I was finding out that not only is there a chance he's alive, but the person behind his disappearance is the one man I had no idea I could hate anymore than I already did._

 _Ibrahim Mazur._

 _My elation to finding out Ivan was alive was slightly being overpowered by the red, hot hatred I felt towards Abe._

 _"Why are you telling me all of this?" I asked Hans quietly. He had to know that this type of information was enough to send me on a murderous rampage. What did Hans get from telling me this information?_

 _"I want you to help me take down Ibrahim."_

 _"Me?"_

 _"Yes, you are going to infiltrate Mazur's gang as an undercover police officer."_

 _Easier said than done, I thought._

 _"How will I do that?" I asked him._

 _"We know what Abe's been up to for years, but we can never catch him because of lack of evidence and since no one other than people he truly knows and trusts can join his gang. But you will, because of your father."_

 _I stood up out of my seat and ran a hand through my hair, tugging it out of from the confines of the hair tie._

 _"How will any of this work?"_

 _"Well this is the part where it gets a little difficult. It'll look like I kicked you out of the academy, because of who your father is. Everyone already knows I'm obsessed with anything having to do with Abe so no one will be surprised by my actions. I need you to pull some crazy shit at graduation, that will make it seem like you're threatening my life."_

 _"Won't I end up in prison if I do that?"_

 _"Yes," Hans said plainly, as if this all seemed normal to him._

 _"In prison, you'll find a man named Rufus Tarus. He's been connected to Abe for almost 15 years and runs his garage for him. I'll make sure I put you near him. First you gain his trust, and then you gain Abe's."_

 _"No way," I told Hans immediately. This idea seemed too risky._

 _"Don't say that Dimitri, you're our only chance of finally catching this bastard," Hans reasoned, getting up as well._

 _"I get that but," I sighed deeply, thinking of the person who meant the most to me. "I have a very emotional mother. She's worked hard her whole life to send me to a good school, so I could become a good person. She's already suffered enough."_

 _My mother had been waiting for years for me to finally put on that police uniform and watch me take my oath. I couldn't destroy her dreams like this._

 _"How can I do this to her?"_

 _"So you're telling me no?"_

 _"I'm not saying no," I said quickly. "This man is part of the reason I became a cop and now you tell me that he is the one behind my brother's disappearance. You're personally giving me the man who tore my family apart. I'm just saying, isn't there another way we can do this?"_

 _"There is," Hans said, gesturing towards his whole office. "You can do it like I did, working your ass off for almost 20 years and achieve nothing!"_

 _I had a battle going on inside of me. Do I graduate, become a respected police officer, and hope a day comes where I can catch Abe and get the truth about my brother out of him. Or do I become 'rogue,' spend time in prison ultimately breaking my mother's heart, so I could earn Abe's trust and take down his gang from within._

 _"It's all up to you Dimitri," Hans said and with that, I made my decision._

Back on the roof, I told Hans everything I knew so far.

"Who in his family have you met so far?"

"Only his daughter, but since he accepted me into his gang, I'm sure I'll be meeting the rest soon."

When Hans had briefed me on Abe, he told me that he was married to a woman named Natasha Ozera whom he shared an 8 year-old son, Anton with.

"Get as close as you can to the whole family, so they place all of their trust on you."

I nodded, though the thought of that bothered me. I didn't want to let one meeting cloud my judgment, but Rose seemed unlike anything I assumed her to be. Abe used my brother as collateral damage. I didn't want to do the same with Rose.

"This is where we'll meet up anytime we need to see each other. You just need to let me know about any dealings or illegal activities he has planned so we can get can the drop on him."

"Got it," I told Hans, understanding my job fully.

Keeping the meeting brief, I said goodbye to Hans and made my way back to the garage.

 ** _Adrian POV_**

I was 8 years old when I met Rose. And I was 10 years old when Abe Mazur saved us from the streets.

The face that I associated as my earliest childhood memory was that of Robert Doru. How he was able to become a foster parent who treated us so horribly and still not get in trouble was beyond me.

I remember the day I met Rose, because it was raining hard and I had just done something that was sure to cause me to get my ass beat.

After a night of begging, Robert and his sidekick would line us all up and collect the money we had made.

Well, I was known for doing things I shouldn't so I had hid most of the money in my shoe. After seeing I had made far less than the rest of the children, they demanded I empty out all of my pockets and take off my shoes.

After they found the money I hid, Robert came at me with his stick. A few minutes of beating my ass later, he ordered me to sit on the outside steps of our shitty, sky blue house. I was barefoot, hungry, and freezing in the rain.

I must have not even been out there for 2 minutes, when Rose came along.

 _Huddled into myself, I tried to control the continuous stream of tears that made its way down my cheeks. I always put up a front in the rest of the house, because I didn't want to give Robert the satisfaction of seeing me in pain._

 _I heard light footsteps making its way through the puddles of water and quickly wiped my face to get rid of any evidence of tears._

 _A girl, barely close to 3 years old silently approached me and offered me the sleeve of her shirt._

 _"What?" I asked her, looking from her arm to her face._

 _"You cwying," she told me, as if it was obvious._

 _"No I'm not," I said defensively. "It's just the rain making it look like I am."_

 _She shrugged and sat down on the steps next to me._

 _"Are you new here?" I asked her. I didn't think I had ever seen her in the house before._

 _She nodded her head yes in response._

 _"What's your name?"_

 _"Wose," she told me._

 _"Wose?"_

 _"Nooo Wose, like the flowah," she corrected me though she didn't pronounce her 'R'._

 _"Oh Rose," I said and she gave me a toothy grin when I said her name correctly._

 _Wordlessly, she put out her other hand to offer me dinner, which happened to be a pb &j sandwich. I looked at her questioningly._

 _"Eat," she commanded and I didn't think twice before taking it from her hands. I was starving and Rose had saved me from sleeping on an empty stomach._

 _I was just about to take a bite when I realized how rude I was being. Ripping the sandwich down the middle, I offered half of it to Rose._

 _That night, as we shared the sandwich in the rain, I knew I had found a companion of a lifetime._

Bringing myself back to the present, I stood in front of Abe, my heart warming at just how happy he looked to see me.

2 years after I met Rose, Abe showed up.

He was Rose's biological father that had no idea she existed until a few weeks prior to that moment.  
Abe had only come there for Rose, but she said there was no way she would ever leave me.

Abe barely batted an eye, because even then, he would've done anything to make her happy.

While I wasn't formally adopted by him, I was placed under the care of the state with Abe sending me to the top boarding schools in the country.

And while I would be grateful to him till my last breath, I became even more alone than ever.

"All your hard work in school and the academy was for us to reach this moment right here," Abe said proudly. "You're going to protect me like no one else has, my secret weapon that no one knows about."

"This is the least I could do, you know that," I told him. He practically took me off the streets; this was my way of repaying the favor.

"Is there anything new with Hans that I should know about?"

"Nothing yet," I told him truthfully. My hard work at the academy was all in the hope of getting placed in the Organized Crime Unit with Hans Croft so I would always know what he was planning on doing when it came to Abe. If he had any suspicions on upcoming business deals or planned any surprise raids, I would be able to give Abe the heads up.

"Listen son," Abe said, placing his hands on my shoulders. "You need to become as close as you can to him. Gain his trust and make sure you're so loved by that whole crime unit that only you know the truth of what you're actually doing. No one, no matter how close you are to them, can know the truth."

"I know, I know," I told him and I did. If anyone ever found out I was a dirty cop, I couldn't even imagine the consequences I'd face.

"Anytime you call me, make sure it's through the burner phone and we can only meet up in discreet places like this."

"Ahem," I heard someone interrupt us. Both Abe and I turned as Rose walked down the steps on the building. "Were you really going to do all of this without saying goodbye first," she said pouting jokingly.

I rushed over to her, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around.

Her laughter was music to my ears and I felt slight guilt when I realized how long it had been since I'd seen or talked to her.

"Hey Wose," I said, brushing my lips across her forehead. Though a couple of years younger than me, I considered Rose to be my sister, equal, and best friend.

"Though I love seeing the two of you together, you're not going to like what I have to say. You two can't meet after this. No one aside from Rose and I know about our relationship and we need to keep it that way."

Rose and I sobered up quickly, realizing the importance of what Abe was saying. Not even Abe's wife, Tasha, or their son knew I existed in their life.

Abe told me early on it was important we kept it this way, because it would pay off in the long run. I didn't understand then, but I did now. He needed me to protect him, and I would do just that.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Dimitri POV_**

The next morning, I began to work at Abe's car garage permanently. This still wasn't ideal for me though. Keeping in mind what Hans needed for me and for all the information I needed to find Ivan, I had to find some way to get as close to Abe as I could possibly get. I doubt I would get much done working at the garage.

Still, the show we both put on in front of Hans and that new guy Adrian gave me a bit of hope that Abe was going to be getting in touch with me sooner rather than later.

It wasn't until a couple of hours into the day when I heard the familiar rev of an engine. Turning my neck to the entrance of the garage, I saw Rose drive in and park right next to where I was standing

"Didn't think I forgot, did you?"

I shook my head as she got out and handed me her keys.

"She's special to me Dimitri, be gentle." I nodded, telling her not to worry. Rose, who had come here straight from school, perched herself onto a workbench with her book bag, occupying herself with schoolwork while I got busy with her car.

It was silent, save for the noise I was making with the car and the rustling of the pages from Rose's textbook.

This was good; nice and quiet, just how I liked it.  
"What's your favorite color?"

I obviously spoke too soon.

It took me a moment to register her question, so childlike and innocent.

"Don't have one," brushing her off in a way, hoping she would get the hint that I wasn't interested in talking.

Wrong again Dimitri.

"What's your favorite show?"

"Don't watch T.V."

"What's your favorite song?"

"Don't listen to music."

"How did you end up here?"

I jerked back in surprise to find her standing right next to me. I must have stopped paying attention while she was asking me her other questions, because I didn't even hear her get up and walk over to me.

I stepped away from the hood of her car and looked at her. "What?"

"I said how did you end up here?"

"Your dad hired me."

"Yeah, but how did you end up here in the first place? I come to this garage almost everyday and that was the first time I had seen you here."

I schooled my features into an expressionless mask, not wanting to go into my past with Rose of all people.

"Touchy subject? I'll drop it," she said quickly and apologetically, turning back to the bench.

"I just got out of jail," my mouth spoke before I had the chance to process what I said.

"What?" she asked, turning back in my direction.

"I said I just got out of jail. Rufus bought me here." I looked down at the wrench in my hand; too ashamed of the persona I had taken up. Even if it was just a role, this wasn't the type of man I was raised to be.

"What were you in for?"

I contemplated answering, but figured she could easily ask her dad and get the answer from him anyway. I also felt like a bit of an asshole for brushing of all of the other questions she had asked me earlier. "I threatened someone. It's not important, its in the past now," I said dismissively. I walked closer towards the hood of her car, hoping she'd get the hint that I didn't want to continue with this conversation.

She clearly didn't, as she walked closer and leaned against her closed door.

If I thought there was a chance she would let me work in silence, I was dead wrong.

"No offense Dimitri, but you don't seem like the type." I felt my lips twitch up in a smile, but continued working on her car.

"What do you mean? I took out 3 men within 5 minutes of meeting you."

"Yeah, but I've seen the men that come here. You just don't have the look."

I looked up at her. "The look? Am I supposed to be covered in tattoos or have a few missing teeth to fit the look?"

"Your eyes," she said and my eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "It's your eyes."

That's all she said, before turning around and sitting on the bench again. I remained standing still in that spot though. My stoicism was something no person ever got past, not even my mother. She had no suspicions about this undercover work I was doing. I had done such a good job at convincing her that she really believed I had chosen the criminal lifestyle for myself.

But I was fearful for the first time since starting this whole charade.

That the person that could come close to figuring out the truth might just be Rose.

And I had only just met her.

My palms felt moist as I began to work on her car, and prayed that Rose wouldn't try to dissect my motives for being here.

"What's your favorite movie?"

XXXXX

"Same time again tomorrow?" She asked me, putting her bag into her car. I nodded, and started to put all of my tools away. Her car was a classic, but it needed a lot of maintenance to keep it smooth and running.

This could be beneficial to me, because even though I had ignored most of Rose's inane questions today, the closer I got to her, the more it would work in my favor.

She reached into the pocket of her cardigan and handed me her cellphone. I looked at it questioningly, causing her to roll her eyes in my direction.

"Put your number in here."

"Why?" I asked slowly, still not taking it from her.

"In case I have a car emergency, I want to be able to get a hold of you if anything were to happen."

I looked at her then back at her cellphone again, reluctantly taking it from her hand.

"Only for emergencies," I told her pointedly, quickly saving my number into her phone and handing it back to her.

"Obviously," she told me, but the playful look in her eyes told me I had made a big mistake.

"See you tomorrow," she waved, sitting in her car and driving out of the garage.

Not even a few minutes after she left, I felt my phone vibrate and groaned out loud, because without even looking at it, I knew it was a message from Rose.

 ** _Adrian POV_**

I pushed the button, taking us to the 8th, and highest floor in my apartment complex. Sydney, who was standing next to me, grew more and more confused. The confusion turned to wariness as she followed me down the hall to my place.

"Uh, I thought you were taking me to get the best coffee in town," she asked, as I ushered her in.

I locked the door and smirked in her direction. "Yeah, this is it."

She rolled her eyes and hesitantly walked further into my place. I walked into the connecting kitchen and began making us coffee. Sure, I was being slick when I bought her back here, but there was still truth in my actions. I made the best damn coffee.

I glanced at her to see her staring at my bed and then quickly turning away. My apartment was one big open space; featuring only things I considered necessities, like a bed, two stools, a fridge and microwave, exactly one couch, and a dressing table set. No pictures adorned my walls. The only two people I knew and loved weren't allowed to be associated with me.

So that was why I found Sydney's sudden averting glance odd. I peered further passed her shoulder and saw the source; a pair of handcuffs still attached to my bedpost.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath, but she heard.

"So, is this your style?" she asked me, suddenly becoming closed off.

I raised my hands up in surrender; "I swear I only bought you here for coffee."

Her gaze scrutinized me from head to toe until she deduced that I really was telling her the truth. Her shoulders relaxed and I lowered my hands, as well.

"Take a seat, the coffee is ready."

"Where should I sit?" She asked with a teasing tone, but still sat down on one of the stools. "Did you just move in?"

"I've been here for almost a year."

Her eyes widened up a bit. "A year," she glanced around again. "Are you a minimalist?"

I shook my head and sat down opposite her with our cups of coffee. "I only keep what I absolutely need. You never know when you have to drop everything and leave. Having more things means having more attachments. I'm not good with all of that."

My response seemed to stump her even more so I tried to give her the simplest answer I could. "I grew up with nothing. I've gotten used to it." Her eyes softened, but I made myself look away from her. "Drink your coffee before it gets cold."

She took a sip and I watched with amusement and pride as her eyes widened in my direction.

"Wow," she breathed, before taking another gulp.

"You like?" I asked, picking up my own up.

"I like," she said nodding her quickly. "So Olena seemed to take a liking to you. She wanted me to invite you over to dinner at her place."

"Really?" I was genuinely surprised that she even gave me a thought after I left the restaurant.

Sydney hummed in response.

"When?"

"She closes the restaurant everyday at 5 so any time after that when you're free."

I looked at my watched and saw that it was a quarter to 5. "Can we go tonight?"

"Really?" she asked, becoming the surprised one.

"Yes, text her right now and tell we'll be there soon," I said in all seriousness. The fact that a woman like Olena even gave me a second thought seemed like an honor to me. That added with the thought of getting to eat her food again was taking everything in me not to sprint over to her house as we speak.

Sydney and I finished up our coffee, and decided to drive over together. She rode with me and told me where to go.

"How's work going? Was your editor happy with the story I gave you?"

Sydney lips twitched up. "Very and it helped me out with something else, too."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"I've been trying to get her to approve this assignment for me, but she kept turning me down saying it would be a waste of time. After the story I gave her, she finally gave me the okay to go ahead with the story I wanted."

"What is it about?"

"Who. Who its about." she corrected me. I briefly took my eyes off the road to glance at her. "I don't know his name or where he is, or even if he's alive for that matter. Just a picture and an anonymous tip saying that he used to run a house filled with kids who lived on the street."

My head whipped in her direction. "What?" I exclaimed. "Is this recent? Who gave you the tip?"

Sydney looked taken aback by my sudden interest. "I told you, it was anonymous."

"You said you have a picture? Can I see it?"

"Why?" she asked me suspiciously.

"Because I may know who you're talking about," I whispered, turning my attention completely back on the road. I didn't need to look at Sydney to know that she probably looked even more confused by this statement than she was before.

"I left the file in my office," she finally told me. I peeked at her again to see her chewing on her bottom lip, deep in thought. I had been saying and doing a lot of odd things since I met her- from the tapping of my fingers to mentioning how I grew up with nothing. And I was sure she had questions for me.

But I just met her and that part of my life was too painful to bring up to someone I just met.

I also knew Sydney wouldn't just hand me the picture if I didn't at least tell her something.

And I had to see that picture, because I was almost positive that the person she was talking about was Robert Doru.

We arrived at Olena's shortly after. It was a small, white house with a big backyard. The house was something I could totally picture Olena living in. It was inviting and warm.

She greeted us kindly at the door and before I even stepped in, I was hit with the aroma of delicious food.

"Thank you for having me," I told her genuinely. She waved me off and rushed into the kitchen.

"I'll give you a quick tour," Sydney told me, leading me to each room of the house. The living room, kitchen, and bathroom were downstairs, along with Olena's bedroom. Pointing up the stairs, Sydney said there was another bathroom and two more bedrooms.

"Whose rooms?"

"One was Dimitri's," Sydney paused long enough for me to look over at her. "And the other one she keeps for Ivan."

I felt something painful tug at my chest. Now this was the best example of what I imagined when I thought of the perfect mother. Her son had been gone for 20 years now and she still kept his memory alive.

Sydney ushered me to the dining table where Olena had set multiple dishes of food.

I didn't immediately start eating and savored this moment right here. Because for the first time in my life, I was getting a true home cooked meal.

Olena didn't stop at just dinner though. She made me sit in the living room while her and Sydney got dessert and coffee ready.

I walked around the room, examining each detail slowly, Olena had a lot of photographs hanging up, each of them featuring who I could only assume was a young Dimitri and Ivan. The earliest pictures showed Ivan with blond hair and as the years progressed, his hair began to darken to resemble that of his mother and older brother.

"Cute kid," I mumbled to myself and sat down on the couch. On the side table were two things- another picture and a small, red carousal. I picked up the picture first. The picture seemed to be taken at a park with Ivan on Dimitri's back. The brothers weren't looking at the camera. They were looking at each other and laughing. "Really cute kid."

I put down the picture, just as Olena and Sydney came in.

"Olena you shouldn't have," I told her as she handed me a plate with a thick slice of chocolate cake.

"It was really no problem at all." Olena took a slice for herself while Sydney seemed content with just a cup of coffee. "Tell me about yourself Adrian, do you have any siblings? What do you your parents do?"

I felt my ears burn at her questions. It was innocent enough, but I couldn't help but once again feel ashamed. It was also the reason why I didn't do things like going out on actual dates or spending a lot of time with people, like I was doing right now with Sydney and Olena.

Because sooner or later, they were going to get curious, and I couldn't blame them.

Swallowing the piece of cake as slowly as I could, I realized that there was no avoiding these questions. I told myself I was going to have to give Sydney at least a few details of my past. Might as well get it over with right now.

"I don't know," I finally told them.

They both shared a confused look with one another.

"I don't understand," Olena said.

I cleared my throat and put down my plate, losing my appetite completely.

"I said I don't know. I don't know who they are. I just… I don't know."

Sydney, who had seen my interest in the man who ran the house of street children, had put two and two together. Understanding filled her eyes and was just as quickly replaced with a heartbroken expression. She looked over at Olena and shook her head, telling her to drop it.

I couldn't stand to see anyone give me any pity so I quickly diverted the topic of conversation.

"What is this?" I asked Olena, picking up the red carousal that was next to the picture frame.

Luckily and without skipping a beat, Olena smiled in my direction and told me. "It used to be my younger son's." She glanced over at Sydney who nodded at her, then turned back to me. "I see Sydney has already told you about Ivan. That actually used to be the only thing that made him fall asleep. Stay right there, I'll be right back." She quickly got up and walked to her bedroom and within seconds, came back out holding a picture frame. She handed it to me allowing me to take a look. It was a picture of Ivan, fast asleep, clutching the carousal tightly to his chest.

That same painful feeling tugged at my heart again. It seemed like 20 years changed nothing for her. The way she kept her son's memories alive and talked about him made it seem like this just happened to her. I gave the picture back to her and picked up the carousal again. Twisting the top of it a couple of times, the carousal slowly began to move in the opposite direction while playing a soft lullaby.

"Sydney, can you help me get this all cleaned up," I heard Olena say to Sydney, but my focus was completely on the carousal. The horses moved in a slow, soothing circle that seemed borderline hypnotic. I heard the girls walk out of the living room and leaned further back into the couch. I twisted the carousal as far back as it could go, feeling a sense of calm pass over me as the lullaby began to play from the start.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back focusing only on the music that was playing. And just like that, I fell asleep.


End file.
